SOE's Classic MMO _EverQuest _ Gets New Installment

Sony Online Entertainment surprised fans at its 2010 London Fan Faire event with the revelation that it's developing a new EverQuest MMO the company billed as something of a "reboot" of the 1999 MMO classic -- which continues to operate alongside its sequel. SOE president John Smedley said fan feedback would be important to shaping the new game, which it project-titled Everquest Next -- "we want to make something that still keeps the flavor of the original and the lore and the core tenets of it, but we want to make something that is truly next generation," he said, according to Eurogamer's report from the event. "We want EverQuest players and EverQuest II players to feel like they're at home, but a new home, one that's really awesome," he added. The design team on the new title is aiming for color, showing off some of the game's art -- which it said was influenced by the success of the fantastical environments of SOE's Free Realms. Everquest II also just received a big announcement: that it'd get a free-to-play parallel version called EverQuest II Extended. The aim seems similar to EverQuest Next's -- satisfy longtime fans looking for a different way to play, while making the game world accessible to new players.